While Dad is away, Georgie and Mom play

You may wonder what George is doing while Giorgio and I are off exploring the city and why he does not make more of an appearance in my stories. George's time is monopolized by his three classes. One is a course in which the class goes to different parts of Rome and study a building by way of watercoloring or sketching it. He does this once a week and has an outside assignment once a week. These are some of the pieces he has done that I have not shown you all yet.

The second class is a course in which the professor, a architectural historian, takes the class on tours of different parts of Rome focusing on architectural history. With these two classes, he sees a descent amount of Rome much of which he wants to see again so we have gone back to these places as a family.

The third class is studio. This is the class that takes up a majority of his time. He goes to studio first thing in the morning, unless he has class, and stays there all day. He takes a break for lunch and comes home for dinner. Recently, even after dinner he goes back to studio. To be honest, he is not loving his studio experience. However I think he is learning a great deal and that is the reason we are here.

So while George has been in class or in studio, Giorgio and I have been keeping busy visiting the many sites in Rome. Giorgio and I have also had a few lazy days filled with hanging out with the girls and catching up on Downton Abbey!

On one of our lazy days, Giorgio found George's hat and ever since then it has been a favorite toy.

On the Feast of Our Lady of Childbirth (October 14th), we went to mass at San Agostino with Judy and Mercedes. I love this church, it is one of my favorites. I particularly love the chapel that has this image of Mary and Jesus.

One of George's professors back in South Bend designed a memorial in Cardinal Burke's titular church, Sant' Agata dei Goti. He asked George if he would be willing to attend the rite of dedication in order to take pictures for him. But George could not attend the ceremony since it was during his studio time so I volunteered to go. Mercedes joined Giorgio and I and we made a little adventure out of it. We arrived at the church around 3:45 pm since we had been told that it started at 4 pm. Well 4 pm rolled around and no one was in the church. There were programs for the ceremony on all of the chairs but no one was in the church. So we waited around, the choir began to practice (wow were they amazing) and then a seminarian I knew from CUA came in! We chatted for a little and then I asked him when the ceremony was to begin. 6 o'clock he said so... Mercedes and I decided to leave. Giorgio was getting cranky and I was running out of ways to entertain him plus we needed to make dinner. However the trip was not in vain. We got to visit a beautiful church that was built in the 5th century. We also were able to hear an amazing choir practice!

Giorgio and I have taken a few trips to and around the Vatican as well. I have noticed that when I am feeling homesick I want to go to the Vatican. I feel at home there. On one of these trips to the Vatican, I stopped in a bookstore that had a great selection of English theology books. I had been looking for a book that gave more theological and historical background on the churches of Rome. The tour book I brought with me to Rome just says a few sentences and is very secular. I wanted a book that went a little deeper. Well I found it at this bookstore! So the past two weeks or so I have been visiting/ revisiting churches and utilizing the book to have a better understanding of the church while I am in it. It has been great!

So far we have visited Santa Cecilia in Trastevere....

Santa Cecilia was the first church I visited with the book!

When we walked in, the Benedictine nuns were just starting to sing mid-day prayer! How lucky were we? Especially at Santa Cecilia's the patron saint of music's church!

Crowning of St. Cecilia

This is a chapel that is attached to the bath that St. Cecilia was enclosed in to die of suffocation.

St. Cecilia's tomb and a statue of her modeled after her body in the tomb.

Santa Maria in Trastevere (this is where I normally go to mass so I have been here many time before but this was the first time going and being able to know a little about my surroundings).

St Anthony of Padua with Christ

San Andrea delle Valle...

"Expulsion from Paradise"

"Angel Instructs Joseph to Flee to Egypt"

and San Lorenzo in Lucina.

Giorgio and I have also been visiting some of the famous Roman sites. One being the Spanish steps! We went with Judy and Mercedes and enjoyed looking into all of the designers' stores on our way there. While we are the Spanish steps, one of the flower sellers just shoved roses at us saying he was "giving" them to us. So we took pictures with the roses... but he came back a few minutes later insisting that we give him something in return as a token of our gratitude. What a tricky way to really just sell you flowers! We refused to pay him and insisted on his taking them back!

Mercedes, Giorgio and I have visited two art museums that are both just a few blocks from our apartments! The first one we visited was Villa Farnesina. This was George's favorite because he was able to explore the gardens. It is not often that we come across open space that he can run around in so this was a special treat for him! (We will be visiting here more often!)

Raphael's Triumph of Galatea

This room is filled with frescos like this that make one feel as if one is in a colonnade looking out on Rome.

George's favorite part about the villa: the stairs!

The second art museum that we visited was Palazzo Corsini, which is across the street from Villa Farnesina. We visited on a rainy day during Giorgio's nap time. While he napped in the stroller, I was able to spend as much time as I wanted looking at all of the beautiful art! What a treat! There were a large number of images of Mary and Jesus in this museum. Below are two of my favorites.

I have to be honest not all of our recent time has been spent visiting Roman cultural and religious shops. I have done a little shopping as well. Judy, Giorgio and I spent the large part of one day going up Via del Corso, which is a street lined with tons of great stores. Another day Mercedes, Giorgio and I did some boot shopping. Both Mercedes and I have been eyeing Italian leather boots. After coming back from Florence without finding something we liked, we decided to check out some of the shoe stores (in our price range) around Rome. I found a pair of beautiful brown boots and Giorgio is quite the fan of them! He opens the closet, pulls them out, tries to pull the zipper down and then puts the boots on!

Of course on all of our wanderings around Rome, we get tired and need an energy boosts from some sweet treats. This has become part of our daily routine. I am going to be in trouble when we get back to the States! Giorgio is quite the fan of all kinds of sweet treats as you can see!

George has found time about once a week to do something with Giorgio and I. Sometimes its a whole day but with the projects due date approaching it has only been a part of the day. However we have a great time when Dad is with us and we really enjoy Rome together as a family. I will post soon about some of our family outings!